balancinghistorybooks 's review for:

Heart Lines by Gemma Troy

1.0

---

I enjoy reading new poetry, and thus downloaded Gemma Troy's Heart Lines from Netgalley. What I found inside its pages felt rather far from a poetry collection, however. None of the poems - or, rather, fragments, given that very few are over four lines long - have titles. I did enjoy the photography here, but the 'poems' were not my style at all; a lot of them read like the cliched verses in soppy birthday cards, or 1980s song lyrics, or really tacky tattoos. The entire book feels like a collection of really early, and not very polished, Tumblr posts.

I must admit that I cringed my way through the book, and only completed it because it was so short. There is nothing profound, or gritty, or memorable to be found here; rather, the collection is repetitive, and the photography does not do enough to save it. Heart Lines is truly banal. I have collected some examples below to illustrate my points.

'If wishes do come true
I must have wished upon a star
because nothing on earth
compares to you'

'With change
comes the chance
to fall in love
with yourself again'

'Even with my eyes closed
you still look perfect to me'

'She feels invisible
but she doesn't know
her light is blinding'

'If I loved you
any more fiercely
you might mistake me
for the sun'

'I loved the stars
well before I knew
they were only beautiful
because of the dark'